How a Determined Few Turned the Tide at Kfar Aza and Emerged in Glory

The 20th Maine at Little Round Top, the Knights Hospitallers at the Siege of Malta, Israel’s 7th Armored Brigade at the Valley of Tears — these are just a sampling of the engagements where a stand by a determined few turned the tide against an onslaught by a much larger enemy.Now, after October 7, there’s another such story to tell. Throughout that terrible day, an ad hoc group of five Israelis came together to fight against at least 100 Hamas terrorists at Kibbutz Kfar Aza.The morning of October 7 found local resident Noam Bonfeld away from home in Jerusalem where he and family were celebrating the Simchat Torah. At around 8 a.m., he received a telephone call from Tal, the commander of Kfar Aza’s local defense squad, who told him “Noam, I don’t want to be your hangman, so don’t come. We’ve been overrun by terrorists.”Mr. Bonfeld grabbed his pistol, jumped in his car, and sped towards the scene of this unfolding war crime. Outside the Kibbutz Kfar Aza main gate, he met Superintendent Keter Tzoran, a police officer whose bodycam footage served as the source of a news segment broadcast on Israel’s Kan11 public broadcaster.There they were joined by police Sergeant Uriel Cohen, a combat medic, Lieutenant Colonel Elad Zandani of Israel Defense Forces, and a retired Shin-Bet intelligence officer, who can’t be named.“Our thinking at the point of entry was that the number of terrorists we’d be facing was irrelevant,” said Superintendent Tzoran. “What mattered is that we were the only Israeli unit on scene. And we understood that our overriding priority was to prevent a massacre, regardless of cost.”The five Israelis entered the kibbutz on foot, a fluke decision that enabled them to outflank the terrorists who lay in ambush along the entry road against incoming vehicles.“We crept through the kibbutz, using buildings as cover,” Mr. Bonfeld related. “We knew there were terrorists around, but had no idea how many.”The first building they cleared was the kibbutz dining hall, where they found two members of the local defense squad who lay wounded from a previous firefight.“I grabbed an M-16 from one of the wounded defense squad members,” said Mr. Bonfeld, “and filled my pockets with rifle magazines. I had no tactical gear because I was still wearing civvies at the time.”Leaving medic Uriel Cohen behind to treat the wounded, the four remaining Israelis continued their sweep of the kibbutz.“I have no idea where the army is,” Superintendent Tzoran’s body camera records him muttering as they moved house-to-house while exchanging fire with Palestinian terrorists.“IDF, IDF!” the quartet yell to identify themselves and avoid ‘blue-on-blue’ incidents of friendly fire. In response they received a heavy barrage from Hamas AK-47s.“Pour it on!” bellows Mr. Tzoran while emptying his Glock pistol at the enemy amidst a heavy exchange of fire. “Wreck them! Wreck them!”The Shin Bet officer crumples to the ground.“Are you hit?!” yells Mr. Tzoran.“I’m dying,” he groans.“The moment he told me he was dying, I knew he wasn’t dead,” Superintendent Tzoran says to the Kan11 interview with a wry smile.At this point, Colonel Zandani and Mr. Bonfeld make a split tactical decision that proves to be a turning point in the battle for Kfar Aza.“We came upon a ladder that we propped against the side of a house,” Mr. Bonfeld relates. “Then we climbed to the roof and pulled the ladder up after us. We looked around 360 degrees and saw tons of terrorists throughout the kibbutz grounds. We began to snipe them. We were lucky that it took them time to figure out from where we were shooting.”“Our advantage was the 40-centimeter buttress atop the roof,” Colonel Zandani explained. “This enabled us to pop up at one spot to fire before dropping down behind cover and moving to a new position to shoot again. It was like a game. A game that lasted hours.”“After we’d dropped around thirty-five terrorists, one Hamasnik happened to look up and saw me,” says Mr. Bonfeld. “Our eyes met and the bastard ducked behind a cement pillar. Then a barrage of mortar shells begins to hit all through the kibbutz.It was only around 1 p.m., after three hours of hard fighting, that IDF reinforcements enter Kfar Aza. Given the option to join the evacuation of civilians from the kibbutz, Mr. Bonfeld refuses, instead borrowing a spare uniform from one of the arriving IDF vehicles and continuing to fight.“The guys on the roof established an island of safety in the middle of a terrible massacre,” says Superintendent Tzoran. “Unfortunately, that bubble only extended as far as their line of sight. It was in the outlying buildings of the kibbutz where the worst killings occurred.”“As we cleared the kibbutz, house by house, we saw first-hand the grizzly evidence of Hamas barbarism,” said Mr. Bonfeld. “Families whose homes were breached by the terrorists stood no chance.”Despite taking two 7.62 mm AK-47 rounds to the chest, the Shin Bet officer reaches the hospital alive. He’s now on the mend.“So how is it that four guys, two armed only with pistols, plunged into that cauldron of combat filled with heavily armed terrorists and yet managed to survive?” asks the Kan11 interviewer.“A good question,” answers Mr. Bonfeld as he pointed skywards with his finger.

How a Determined Few Turned the Tide at Kfar Aza and Emerged in Glory

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